When We Aren’t Socially Acceptable Disabled People Anymore

Our American white colonizer culture loves a plucky underdog story. We swoon over stoic suffering. We adore an inspiring boot strap story about a person who overcomes great adversity to succeed in an emotionally satisfying mainstream way.

But what happens when our suffering isn’t sexy and silent? When we aren’t productive “enough”? What happens when we aren’t getting better? When we struggle, flailing, desperate for some sort of support? What happens when we don’t know how to reach out or build the “right” sort of connection?

I’m far from the first person to ask these questions.

As disabled people we are given both more room to be imperfect, and listened to more intently, the more intersections of privilege we hold. That means that I get more room and grace from the abled people around me than my disabled peers who carry intersections of oppression I do not. It should be…